The City of Hope

Christmas brings to mind lots of things.  Family, friends, gifts, saying thank you, rest and relaxation (unless you are like me and do lots of last minute shopping and I only really have to shop for one person).  All of our girls and our son-in-law are visiting and it has been a very enjoyable few days at our house.  It is always nice to have the girls home. 

On Thanksgivings when I was growing up, we would go to Newtown, Connecticut where my Dad's sister lived.  So the tragedy there this past week was brought closer to home.  What would cause a young man to take such innocent lives?  What would give someone so little hope and to inflict his hopelessness on others? 

I have been going through the Old Testament a chapter at a time and just finished up my first year.  This has been an incredible blessing, much more than I thought.  I have been looking for Jesus in the Old Testament and it has not been hard to find Him there.  A number of my friends avoid reading the Old Testament and think Jesus isn't in the Old Testament, but nothing can be further from the truth. 

The last book I am reading this year is the Book of Ruth.  This book starts with hopelessness.  Naomi, the central character in the early chapters comes from Bethlehem during some of the darkest period in Israel's history.  She leaves her country during a period of famine and goes to the pagan country of Moab.  There, her two sons marry two Moabite women.  It is interesting to note that the names of her sons of are "sick" and "puny" which describes their likely physical condition.  Her husband and two sons die in the land of Moab.  She decides to return to Bethlehem.  But her return is fraught with doubt and in fact, she encourages her widow children to stay in Moab because she believes the pagan Gentile country offers more hope for them than Israel does.  Her daughter Orpah stays in Moab, but Ruth accompanies Naomi back to Bethlehem.  Naomi which means "pleasant" is so embittered that she says on her return to change her name to "bitter" or "empty". 

If you know the story of Ruth, you know that there is a relative, a "kinsman-redeemer" named Boaz who lives in Bethlehem and marries the widow Ruth.  Boaz is what is called a "type" of Christ.  He is a shadow of another redeemer born in Bethlehem who will redeem us from sin by paying the penalty Himself upon the cross.  Bethlehem is not the city of hopelessness but the city of hope.  Further, this hope is extended to Ruth, the pagan Gentile to marry into an Israelite line that ultimately becomes part of the lineage of Jesus Christ.  Bethlehem is not just the story of a baby born in a manger, but a story of hope for those of lost and looking for redemption, even when hope seems at its bleakest. 

The Book of Ruth is a glimmer of hope and comes during one of the darkest times in Israel's history.  Judges closes with the horrendous story of a decapitated rape victim and civil war and Ruth provides the glimmer of grace and hope.  Even on the heels of one of the worst horror's we have ever seen, come to Bethlehem, the city of hope and find redemption, and grace.

Cleveland Schools - Essential Leadership

This past week, Eric Gordon, CEO of Cleveland Metropolitan School District announced the Cleveland Plan, a sweeping plan to take forward Cleveland schools.  I spent a whole day Thursday with Eric and looking at some of Cleveland's shining schools as part of Leadership Clevealnd.  What is amazing about the Cleveland Plan is that it was a team effort between Frank Jackson, Mayor of Cleveland, Eric Gordon, the teachers union let by Tracey Radich, and private charter schools.  They checked their egos at the door and put aside their biases to move Cleveland schools ahead. 

Mayor Frank Jackson is not an impressive guy individually.  You hear him speak and he doesn't strike you as someone who is super-intelligent.  But hearing a lot behind the scenes, you realize what kind of leader he is.  Eric relayed a story of how Mayor Jackson was meeting with the head of charter schools in Columbus.  Cleveland has over 90 charter schools, one of the largest areas for charter schools.  Many of these charter schools work and many do not work.  Jackson and Gordon sought to work with the charter schools.  In this meeting in Columbus, Mayor Jackson got a cold shoulder with little cooperation.  At 7:30 AM after just arriving in Columbus, it became apparent that he was not welcome at this meeting.  Mayor Jackson as relayed by Eric Gordon said emphatically "I have all day - I'm not leaving".  I have heard Mayor Jackson say that he has no other career aspirations - his final and last job is Mayor of Cleveland and Cleveland schools is his high priority. 

Cleveland schools superintendents and the Mayor of Cleveland haven't always seen eye to eye, but Eric and Mayor Jackson were partners in the effort to improve Cleveland schools from day one.  They partnered together to get Issue 107 passed and they partnered together to promote the Cleveland Plan.  As a lifelong resident of Northeast Ohio, it is so gratifying to hear about how this leadership is moving our schools forward.  I truly believe that as the schools goes, so goes the city.  We have our problems, but we are tackling them head on.  Do you think we can transfer some of this cooperative leadership to Washington?

Thursday was Leadership Cleveland's Education Day and we toured Cleveland Central Catholic, John Hay and its innovative small schools, and E-Prep, a state and private funded prep school.  We saw highly engaged students and successful institutions.  We saw hope - hope that is critical to our city.  I am very thankful for my LC classmate Eric Gordon and what he is doing in Cleveland schools.

22 Seconds to Save a Life

22...,21...,20....,19...,18..., if you count off seconds that is a lot of time.  How long does it take you to take 49 flash pictures.  Some witnesses said the man was struggling on the track for nearly a minute.

What I am referring to is a man who was pushed onto the subway track by a deranged man and was struck by an oncoming subway train.  A freelance photographer for the New York Post captured a picture of the man right before he was about to be hit by the train and according to his own reports took 49 flash pictures.  Others according to witnesses were even closer to the man and did nothing to help him.  Yet some apparently had time to get their cell phones out to take pictures.  Here is an interview with the reporter. The New York Post not only purchased the photo (oh, sorry the photographer says they licensed the photo), but had to add the sensational headline "DOOMED".  I am not going to reproduce it here because it is just wrong.

Does this sicken you?  It does me.  What would you do?  Would you have at least tried to pull the man up?  Would you have yelled to others to help?  In some ways, it is easy to point fingers at others, but what would you do?  Are you worried that we have become so callous that we wouldn't help someone in this situation. 

The Lottery - a Good Thing?

I admit I have never played the lottery.  I consider it state-sponsored gambling.  It has a many negative connotations, most of which you would never hear on the local news.

1. It takes money from the hands of mostly working class people that very rarely can afford to blow money on gambling.  
2. It has a subliminal effect of promoting the miracle windfall.  Wouldn't we be better off promoting those that have worked hard and achieved success the correct way?  Our culture has become way too much of "get rich quick" mentality.
3. Then, you have those very few that actually win.  There are reports that 7 out of 10 lottery winners actually blow all of it.  But there are certainly cases of many of those that have blown it all.  Check this article out on 10 reasons why winning the lottery is not a good thing.
4. Finally, there is the totally false sales message that the lottery helps education.  I doubt people are actually playing the lottery with the notion of helping education.  And very little of the money coming from the lottery actually helps education.

I am gravely concerned about our country - where it is going, what it is doing?  We have lost our work ethic, our drive.  We are expecting the sky to drop blessings on us.  The lottery promotes this notion. How about we take half of the time we spend talking about the lottery and talk about hard-earned success?  Gambling does not expand the pie of gross domestic product.  It simply redistributes and wastes it.